China's Unhappy Rich

The country's elite are running for the exits.

Updated Sept. 17, 2014 12:17 am ET

About 30 Chinese officials, including managers of state-owned companies, are known to have committed suicide this year. Among them were several high-profile cadres under investigation for graft, confirming that supreme leader Xi Jinping's anticorruption campaign has created real fear.

Chinese commentators have pointed out that this is not cause to praise Mr. Xi and his colleagues. Some of the accused claim they were tortured into making confessions. A purge is not justice.